Tag: nhl

So, last Friday was just another hockey game, Edmonton played Tampa Bay. The game went to shoot out and was decided by rookie Linus Omark.

Now, that’s a goal, right? The objective of the game is to put the puck into the net and that is what he did. The fake slap-shot? Part of that. The spin-o-rama? I have no issues with that. Tampa Bay player’s did:

“A … joke,” left wing Ryan Malone(notes) said.
Asked if it was disrespectful, defenseman Mattias Ohlund(notes) said, “Absolutely.”
Omark, in his first NHL game, picked up the puck at center ice and did a spin-o-rama at the blue line before skating down the slot, smacking his stick on the ice and firing through Dan Ellis'(notes) legs.
“It’s embarrassing for him,” Ellis said. “You come into a league, a respectful league like this, and you try a little move like that. It’s not a very classy thing. That’s just the kind of person he is.”

What has that to do with classy? It really seems that the “establishment” wants to enforce rules that aren’t there:

Yes, shame on you, Linus Omark, for breaking the No. 1 rule of decorum in a skills competition for rookies, even if that rule is unwritten and was just invented by the Lightning. Clearly, this should have been a 15-foot wrist shot into Dan Ellis’ chest instead of an electrifying game-winning goal whose initial move had the Bolts goalie out of sync and position. Where’s the class, Linus? Don’t you know the man has enough problems?

1. Goaltending
I actually think that Osgood, despite being 36, really grew this season and all his previous mistakes will no longer matter in his playing. He seems to be very calm and in good state of mind to stop any puck coming his way.

2. Defense
Offense wins games, defense wins championships. It’s a cliché proverb but when one team’s d shuts down the other teams offense, that’s more than half you need. I am surprised that Brad Stuart is only penciled in as #4, but in any case, Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski, Stuart are as good as it gets and the 3rd pair, Ericsson and Lebda would easily be 3 and 4 on a lesser stacked team, not to forget mentor/teacher Chris Chelios on the bench. All the big winning teams of the past featured at least 3, often 4 world-class d-men. And in this years case, Crosby and Malkin have to step it up big time.

3. Experience
44 rings on the Wings vs. 5 on the Penguins. 5 Detroit players eyeing #5, meaning they were around for repeat #1 in 1998. Most likely, at least Maltby and Draper will have the Ray Bourque-like motivation, one last time before the journey ends. It means experience and previous big time goals on the 3rd and 4th line, something the Penguins don’t have. It means a great core of players that can assimilate newcomers onto message, buying into the goal.

Sure, everything John Buccigross wrote is true, but two super stars just cannot carry the Pens against this Detroit team in a seven game series. Not, when the opponent isn’t bad either.

Addendum: I was 2/4 on the second round and obviously forgot to write down the Conference Finals (but I would have been 2/2 there!). The first two games look good for Detroit but look for the Pens to put up a huge effort and win game 3 clearly. Or not and they can go play golf by the end of the week…

Well, well, well. 1 round tips were ok. Not grand, but ok, I think. 5 of 8, 2 with the right score, 3 almost.Here is round 2:

Penguins – Capitals: 4-2
The games against the Rangers have shown a bit that the Caps need to fire on all cylinders to be effective. When one of their players was not up to 100% they had trouble converting. I think Pittsburgh has too much offensively. But defensively they hold the edge es well, so the road ends here for the Caps.

Hurricanes – Bruins: 3-4
Home ice advantage will win the series ultimately for the Bruins, their fans’ passion prove to be the deciding factor.

Ducks – Red Wings: 1-4
The Ducks overachieved to beat the Sharks. They should have been a better team during the regular season but weren’t. The Wings are better on defense and guys like Hossa, Zetterberg or Datsyuk haven’t even started yet.

Blackhawks – Canucks: 3-4
I haven’t seen anything of these two teams this year at all, so it is the hardest to call for me. I am guessing that the Canucks have the edge, getting healthy bodies back in the line-up, the (slightly) better goalie and the enigmatic play-off wild card Mats Sundin. He may just show up this once…

We’ll see. Watching on ESPN360 rocks, though I was asking myself whether the package on NHL.com might have been the better experience. Saw it too late though.